Join us for a candid conversation moderated by Adrian Gaston Garcia (aka AGG) about the unspoken rules, cultural pressures, and heartfelt desires that shape our lives and the stories we tell. In “Chisme and Chapters,” we bring together authors Anna Lapera (Mani Semilla Finds Her Quetzal Voice), Ursula Villarreal-Moura (Like Happiness), and Diana Rojas (Litany of Saints)  to explore how family expectations, for better or worse, become central to their narratives. From the weight of tradition to the freedom of forging one’s own path, this panel will delve into the universal experience of balancing who we are, with who our families want us to be.  Mixed in with all the chisme, stories and cultural insights, the writers will also share their experience publishing their work and offer advice for those interested in getting started.

FREE & open to the public! RSVP below.

Anna Lapera is a Guatemalan-American author and educator. Her debut novel, Mani Semilla Finds Her Quetzal Voice, is an International Latino Book Award winner, the 2025 International Literacy Association Honor Book selection, a Jane Adamms Book Award finalist, an American Library Association’s 2025 Feminist Book Project selection, and was named one of the Best of 2024 by the School Library Journal, New York Public Library, and others. Her superpower is teaching middle school by day. She is currently working on a Young Adult historical fiction novel set in 1970’s Guatemala.

Ursula Villarreal-Moura is the author of the novel Like Happiness, named a best book of 2024 by NPR, San Francisco Chronicle, ELLE, and them and longlisted for the Crook’s Corner Book Prize; and Math for the Self-Crippling, a flash fiction collection. Her writing has appeared in Lit Hub, Electric Literature, Alta, Bennington Review, Story, and elsewhere. She is a longtime advocate for reading diversely and for Land Back.

Diana Rojas is the author of Litany of Saints: A Triptych (Arte Público Press, 2024), the forthcoming novel, They Hold Grudges (Arte Público Press, 2026) and children’s book, Clara’s Big Green Coat (Piñata Books, 2027).  Her essays are featured in Grit & Gravity, The Washington Independent Review of Books, Latino News Network, and the anthology America’s Future (WWPH, 2025).  She lives, taxed and unrepresented, in Washington, DC.

Adrian Gaston Garcia, also known as AGG, is a queer Latine storyteller and poet originally from Chicago and now based in Washington, D.C. His work is a powerful love letter to his younger self and an ode to femininity, softness, and survival, aiming to build and nourish community through shared narratives. A graduate of the Spanish Sin Pena Academy and a 2023 202Creates resident, Adrian has showcased his poetry and performances at various notable venues, including Arena Stage, Busboys and Poets, and the American Poetry Museum. He is also the co-host and producer of the Los Bookis Podcast, the founder of the Latine writers group Tintas DC, and currently serves as the 2025 Pride Poet in Residence at the Arts Club of Washington.

About the Books in Discussion

Mani Semilla Finds Her Quetzal Voice: Mani Semilla Finds Her Quetzal Voice follows 12-year-old Mani, who wants two things: to get her period, and to thwart her mother’s plan of taking her to Guatemala on her 13th birthday. That is, until one day she finds secret letters written between her mother and a disappeared feminist-journalist aunt, revealing a family secret and transforming Mani from quiet bystander into budding activist.

Like Happiness: Like Happiness is a searing debut about the complexities of gender, power, and fame, told through the story of a young woman’s destructive relationship with a legendary writer.

Litany of Saints: Litany of Saints is a collection of three interrelated novellas that explores the immigrant experience of Costa Ricans. The stories delve into themes of cultural dissonance, identity, and the conflict between societal expectations and personal desires, as characters grapple with their own self-perceptions and their place in the world.

If you need an accommodation for this event, please contact us at access@writer.org. We will attempt to fulfill all requests, but advance notice is necessary to arrange for some accessibility services.

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